DHS to temporarily readmit deported DACA recipient after lawsuit

Bystanders watch as immigrants' rights demonstrators march in protest of President Trump's decision on DACA on September 7, 2017 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by AFP)

The US Department of Homeland Security has decided to temporarily readmit a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) after he files a lawsuit claiming he was unlawfully deported.

The DACA recipient, identified as 23-year-old Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, will be allowed to re-enter the United States a day prior to his deposition and one day before his trial in the case, Politico reported Friday.

According to the report, Montes is arguing in his legal case that he was deported despite being a participant in DACA, which prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as minors.

The judge in the case has requested that Montes be allowed to remain in the country for a week before each court date. A spokesman for the US Customs and Border Protection was cited in the report as saying that the agency intends to comply with the request.

According to court documents, Montes is claiming in his legal action against the government that he was detained by an immigration official on a California street after he was unable to show proof that he was a DACA recipient since he was not carrying his wallet holding the documentation at the time.

Dems threaten to shut down government

This lawsuit was filed as the Trump administration was preparing to end DACA in six months. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced earlier this week that the program would end in March, though Congress is pressing to approve new legislation on DACA before the protections expire.

The development came as Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois vowed on Friday to support a government shutdown if the House failed to pass DACA to protect thousands of young immigrants from being deported.

"We have a Democratic caucus where I know the vast majority of the members of the Democratic caucus are ready to say ‘If there is no pathway forward, not only for the 800,000 and for visas for all of you, but also for the rest of immigrant youth through the Dream Act, then there is no government for anyone,'" Gutierrez (pictured above) stated at a press conference.

The remarks by Gutierrez came after Sessions announced that the Trump administration would be ending the Obama-era DACA program with a six-month delay, triggering outrage among Democrats and civil rights groups.

“The coming Christmas has to be a Christmas of joy for all of us or none of us,” said the congressman, who is hoping to pass an immigration bill by December, as the stop-gap measure is due to run out in December.

There is also an effort in the US Senate to push Congress to establish protections for young undocumented immigrants by the end of September.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have introduced a measure that would offer legal status to individuals who received protections under DACA.